Angel Spotlight

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Holly Aho (art-epiphany)

One night angel Holly Aho didn’t feel like making dinner. Instead, she headed off to Subway and on her way home caught the very end of a radio program. All she heard, really, was that a soldier who had been wounded in Iraq was recovering at a VA hospital and would appreciate visitors. Holly needed to know more. She found the website and realized that she felt compelled to visit this young soldier. “I’m usually not really compelled to do anything this out of the ordinary,” Holly says. “I decided that there is no such thing as coincidence, and God often motivates us by giving us a strong desire to do something, even if it seems to have no context at the time.”

If it was no coincidence that Holly had heard about this soldier on the radio, it was also no coincidence that her husband spontaneously arrived home early from work the next day. He watched their four children while Holly headed nervously to the hospital. Two hours later she arrived in a room filled with family. They welcomed her warmly, mentioning how nice it was that Kyle got so many visitors while other soldiers who were far from friends and family received none. Touched by the thought of lonely soldiers recovering without support, Holly went home to research organizations that provide such support.

Instead, she found organizations that provide letters and care packages. “I decided to do that, while continuing my search to find a way to visit these injured soldiers.” Holly purchased pretty paper, but decided that it wasn’t enough. An artist, she decided to make her soldiers feel loved and cared for with original miniature paintings enclosed in each letter. She worried that they would be considered too feminine, but a friend and former Marine assured her that they would be well-received.

Holly creates more than works of art. She has an award-winning blog that, in December, was voted best milblog (military blog, focused primarily on military issues) of the year, written by a civilian. Blogging, for Holly, began as a way to share thoughts, jokes and ideas with her soldiers in between letters. “I wanted to do it right,” she says, “so I decided to learn as much as I could about the subject.” Other bloggers found her and interest grew.

Holly has recently received an invitation to go to Washington, D.C. as one of five selected milbloggers to cover the 2005 Milblog Conference in April. Guests including Oliver North and Michael Yon will join discussions about milblogging and its importance in the lives of soldiers, military families and the general public. This is the chance of a lifetime and Holly thanks Patti Bader for providing the airline ticket to make the trip possible. Holly’s blog can be viewed at: http://sablogs.com/

Art, blogging…and books. Holly has written two books. One, called From Here to There, is a collection of true short stories focusing on the reality of supporting our troops. The other, Bump in the Night, is a story about children overcoming a fear of the dark. Holly created both the text and illustrations for the children’s book. Both are available at http://lulu.com/hollyaho.

Soldiers’ Angels benefits from Holly’s web experience. She is the webmaster for the Project Valour-IT website, the webmaster of the SA blogs and the webmaster at the SA forums. It is work she loves, done for the organization she loves. Art, whether it is in the form of blogging, painting or writing, is, Holly says, “the heart and soul of me.” Her life revolves around her strong love for creativity and her joy in sharing that love with others. “All of it is fueled by my passion for my children and family, for supporting our troops, for my fellow angels. Without that passion I think most of what I do would hold little interest for me. And even if I were never paid for any of it, I wouldn’t stop.”